Altadena Girls pop-up creates a permanent space where teenage fire survivors can just feel normal

An effort to bring free clothes, toiletries and a sense of normalcy to girls displaced by January’s fires now has a permanent home in Old Town Pasadena.

Altadena Girls started as a donation-supported pop-up in Boyle Heights. Volunteers and partners then spent the past nine months transforming an 11,000-square-foot space in a historic bank building into the ultimate hangout, which opens Thursday.

Now-15-year-old co-founder Avery Colvert said the goal is to create a “third space” for girls affected by the fires.

“It's not school. It's not home. It's somewhere where girls can go to … be calm within themselves,” Colvert said. “We are gonna have so many different opportunities here.”

Colvert, right, and her mom Lauren Sandidge, left, experienced a different flavor of natural disaster when they lost their Nashville home in a 2021 flood. “ It surprised me how much community is needed in order to get through hard times,” Sandidge said.

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There are studios for music and podcasting sponsored by Fender and another for dance and movement classes.

Altadena Girls hopes to collaborate with brands and other organizations to host pop-up events. One aspect that won’t change is the free boutique stocked with new clothes, shoes, toiletries and feminine hygiene products.

“ It's about feeling normal, whatever that means for you,” said Lauren Sandidge, Colvert’s mom and co-founder. “Whether it's like your favorite shampoo, face wash, whatever it is … it's about dignity.”

Altadena Girls’ origin story

On Jan. 10, Colvert posted a callout to Instagram asking for clothes, beauty and personal care products, “items that will help my friends feel confidence and like themselves again.”

She was then an eighth-grader at Eliot Arts Magnet, one of five Pasadena Unified campuses destroyed in the fire. Her family evacuated but eventually was able to return to their Pasadena home.

The post went viral. Celebrities and legacy media alike shared Altadena Girls’ story and donations flooded in.

Colvert and scores of volunteers coordinated a pop-up boutique where fire-impacted girls could replenish their closets with the help of a personal stylist and pick up other essentials — all free of cost.

Teen girls and their families shop donations to Altadena Girls in January.

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Altadena Girls estimates it’s reached more than 4,000 people through the boutique and other events.

Teenager Laurel Kleeger-Read, her mom and their cat evacuated their Pasadena home during the Eaton Fire and returned a few months later to a changed community. Her former middle school, the park where she played volleyball and a few of her friends' homes were reduced to ash.

“I just felt such an immense despair in me that I don't think I'll ever be able to feel [it] again,” Kleeger-Read said. “Well, hopefully I'll never feel again.”

Kleeger-Read attended the Altadena Girls prom in May. A stylist helped her choose a teal dress to wear.

“It just made you feel so special and so beautiful,” Kleeger-Read said. “I remember trying on the dresses and I was like, ‘Wow, this is freaking amazing.’”

How Altadena Girls found a physical home

Colvert said the idea for the space came from conversations she had with girls who visited the original shopping events and told her they wanted to come back the next day.

 ”I think when people were struggling so much in that time, they just wanted to have fun and wanted to feel like this kind of joy again,” Colvert said. “ I wanted that feeling to last forever.”

Altadena Girls got the keys to the Old Town Pasadena space Jan. 24 and will open to girls Oct. 23.

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Altadena Girls is on the ground floor of a Neoclassical building built in 1914 for Citizens Bank.

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They chose Old Town Pasadena because it’s near public transportation and accessible to families who have relocated elsewhere in the San Gabriel Valley and beyond.

Also, it’s cool.

“Old Town is, like, for teenagers, is more popular than the mall,” Colvert said.

Partners have donated everything from light fixtures to furniture. The realtor who helped Altadena Girls find this space worked pro bono.

The organization invited girls to help shape their space by sharing their ideas.

“To really put your input on the matter and then it be listened to seriously — I feel like that was really important for the girls who had just not been heard,” Kleeger-Read said.

Altadena Girls co-founder Avery Colvert stands in the work-in-progress version of the Pasadena space. The neon sign is a reference to Riot Grrrl Kathleen Hanna's callout during Bikini Kill shows.

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Sandidge flips through renderings of the first floor. “We really feel strongly ... helping the girls specifically is helping the entire family,” Sandidge said. For example, a family may have time to work on their insurance claims or rest knowing their child is safe at Altadena Girls.

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LAist

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Altadena Girls prioritizes fire-affected girls, 13-18, whether they’ve lost a home or school or had to relocate.

The first cohort will receive a free membership that gives them access to the entire building Thursday and Friday after school and all day Saturday. Sandidge said the hope is to extend the hours based on fundraising and feedback from the girls.

There are a lot of ideas for events: from shows by local musicians to a holiday market and a Rose Parade watch party.

“There's programming here, but it's optional,” Sandidge said. ”You can come and relax and just chill first. And then we wanna know from the girls, like, ‘Hey, what is it that you need right now?’”

Kleeger-Read, who now attends high school in downtown L.A., said she looks forward to catching up with her Pasadena friends in the space.

“There has to be moments where you can celebrate and be like, ‘Hey, this thing was terrible. But look at where we are now,’” Kleeger-Read said. “Look at how, how strongly we were able to bounce back and how much we're able to celebrate, even though we were faced with such a difficult situation.”

‘How do we keep the doors open long term?’

Altadena Girls’ lease lasts through January 2027.

“ Now we're tasked with the sustainability of a nonprofit,” Sandidge said. “Figuring out: How do we now keep the doors open long term so we can serve the girls?”

An organization called Creative Visions sponsors Altadena Girls while it goes through the process to become a nonprofit. A new executive director is joining the organization, and Sandidge plans to step back and return to working in recruiting and HR but will still be involved.

“ I think it's a little addictive to help people,” Sandidge said. “It's the best feeling.”

Colvert is now a freshman at a San Gabriel Valley arts high school but has been back to visit her alma mater Eliot Arts Magnet, which burned down in the January fire.

“ It's kind of surreal to see the place you used to hang out every day be destroyed,” Colvert said.

Colvert said what’s surprised her the most is the outpouring of support from people of all ages.

“ I only thought, like, teenage girls wanted this,” Colvert said. “Even people who are adults are like, 'This is something that's so cool.  I would've loved to have this when I was a teenager.'”